ILR - Self employed - multiple earnings evidence

[KayNa]

Hi,

I've been in the UK for 5 years total, 2 years originally under HSMP and finally 3 years under Tier 1 (general) and am applying for ILR next week through PEO.

I had a meeting with a solicitor today and have become increasingly anxious as they pointed out that my application is very complicated and is likely to be retained if the agent struggles to process my evidence.

The complication is that I am self employed, not operating as a limited company but just an individual, collecting payment from hundreds of individual client (teaching evening classes) and therefore have around 300 individual payments into my account.

All of these payments are backed up by invoices in the form of emails (each listing the name of the client, the service they're paying for, the amount they need to pay and the dates for which their service is valid).
In the case of payments by cash or cheque I also have handwritten receipts.

I also have a UKBA approved accountant who is providing a letter outlining my business structure, the fact that I'm registered as self employed / paying NIC2 etc. and supplying a profit and loss statement and a breakdown of all the payments made into my account.

I'm wondering if anyone else has been in the same situation, having to provide evidence for hundreds of payments, and how they went about ensuring their application was approved?

Or have you heard of similar cases?

My solicitor suggested hiring a courier to help liaise with the agents - has anyone used such couriers for similar cases and would you recommend it?

Is it worth supplying any tax documents for tax year 2012-13? Chapter 6A guidelines state that these must be stamped by a tax authority - does anyone know what constitutes a "tax authority"?

My solicitor also suggested that rather than providing contact details for each individual payment, I just put my own details and say that I am providing evidence on behalf of myself and that trying to submit evidence of each individual earning is like a shop owner having to provide contact details etc. for every single customer in their shop (I hire a venue and teach adults in the evenings and have had several hundred clients in the past 12 months).

I'm starting to lose confidence in my application and would really appreciate any advice or accounts of others in similar circumstances having received a positive result from their application.

Many thanks!

[Janaan]

Dear KayNa

As far as you are paying Class2 NI contributions and the income claimed is shown in your bank account, you will be fine. However your accountant have to do a lot of work. You must go for an experienced account who have dealt with sole trader ILR applications on Tier1 General route. As far as I understand, you choose two type of evidence for your income. As per the rules in document 6A, in your case, you will should be fine by proving Personal Bank Statements and accountant letter explaining you gross/net income. You can also provide Bank Statements+Invoices as another combination but in that case you still need to be provide a summary/explanation of your invoices from the accountant. So if I was you, I would provide them with bank statements showing income coming in from your clients and an accountant letter with explaination of your income. As a backup I would keep my invoices (stamped-signed) by the accountant with a separate letter summarising the invoices. So whatever the case worker ask for, you will have it. Another point that you can cover, if you started your self employement in the previous tax year and paid tax, please do place the tax docs (NTN etc) in your file folder and do provide the case worker if they ask. Rest of the documents whatever you have for instance, communication emails with your clients or sending them your invoices etc, payment receipts, just put it in your back up file (but these docs are not mandatory). You dont have to provide the contact details of all of your invoices as your accountant is attesting it with his/her stamp and signiture and thats what the guidence notes says. Other than that you will be fine, don't over stress and just prepare the docs precisely so that case worker don't get confused. Stick to the guidelines only as they can't demand anything more than what's in the guidance.

Wish you luck and I hope all goes well. Keep me posted please

[Janaan]

Dear KayNa

As far as you are paying Class2 NI contributions and the income claimed is shown in your bank account, you will be fine. However your accountant have to do a lot of work. You must go for an experienced account who have dealt with sole trader ILR applications on Tier1 General route. As far as I understand, you choose two type of evidence for your income. As per the rules in document 6A, in your case, you will should be fine by proving Personal Bank Statements and accountant letter explaining you gross/net income. You can also provide Bank Statements+Invoices as another combination but in that case you still need to be provide a summary/explanation of your invoices from the accountant. So if I was you, I would provide them with bank statements showing income coming in from your clients and an accountant letter with explaination of your income. As a backup I would keep my invoices (stamped-signed) by the accountant with a separate letter summarising the invoices. So whatever the case worker ask for, you will have it. Another point that you can cover, if you started your self employement in the previous tax year and paid tax, please do place the tax docs (NTN etc) in your file folder and do provide the case worker if they ask. Rest of the documents whatever you have for instance, communication emails with your clients or sending them your invoices etc, payment receipts, just put it in your back up file (but these docs are not mandatory). You dont have to provide the contact details of all of your invoices as your accountant is attesting it with his/her stamp and signiture and thats what the guidence notes says. Other than that you will be fine, don't over stress and just prepare the docs precisely so that case worker don't get confused. Stick to the guidelines only as they can't demand anything more than what's in the guidance.

Wish you luck and I hope all goes well. Keep me posted please

[KayNa]

Thanks so much for your reply - I really appreciate it.

I have Class2 NIC bills and all of the income claimed is in my bank account and my accountant is preparing summary of payments etc. much like how you described.

I've checked Chapter 6A notes, can't find a reference to accountant's stamp - is there another document which I'm not aware of which has extra information on how to submit invoices?

Thanks again.

[fomsand1]

Hi KayNa,

when is your appointment? I've got mine Monday the 15th at Croydon and in similar situation -well not really similar per say as I'm claiming income from employement (working as a senior Credit Controller for a company) and self employment (working as a freelance credit controller evenings and weekends). For my self employement, I'm paid per hour so I invoice my client (the company I'm contracted with) at the end of the month and they pay into my bank account directly. I'm only dealing with one company so I'm hoping this shouldnt be an issue at Croydon as I've been seeing lots of weird cases these days particularly for self employed applicants.
I plan to take the following along with me to prove my self employment earnings:

1) Accountants Letter
2) Business Accounts prepared by Accountant
3) Summary of Invoices prep by accountant
4) Bank Account highlighting payment from Client which should match my invoices
5) Class 2 NIC bill
6) Tax Return just submitted last week for 2012/2013
7)Tax Returns for 2011/2012, 2011/2010 and 2010/2009
Invoices Generated to my client
Client contract letter

I'm hoping this isnt too much and will not complicate things but with the way these PEO treat Self Employed cases these days one has to go fully armed. I will update you on my experience on Monday

I've started praying!

[KayNa]

My interview is on Tuesday, prayer state date: last Thursday.

I've got the same evidence as you, but accountant is working on final wording on the letter now, which is a bit complicated because of my situation. He's trying to word it so it matches the requirements from guidance notes.

Met with my solicitor yesterday who really crushed my confidence by saying my case is extremely complicated and very out of the ordinary so I really don't know what to expect. She said to be prepared for my case being retained and if it is then I should do everything to try and get them to process it.

She basically said that it's very difficult to reject anyone's application, but if they find it too complicated to process then they retain it and request additional evidence which means I'd have to re-submit. Given the expenses I don't know if I could afford to go through all that so she also suggested I hire a courier to help negotiate with the agents.

Do you, or anyone else reading this, have experience with these couriers? Are they able to pull strings and help with cases?
My concern is that they're also confused by my application and aren't able to argue the points well enough so I'm not sure if I'm better off getting one of these guys who knows how the system works or to do it myself?

[KayNa]

Also...

Regarding point 6 (Tax Return just submitted last week for 2012/2013), the guidelines say these need to be stamped by the tax authority - how did you have this done? Who is the 'tax authority'?

And did you just print off your online self assessment summary?

Finally, there's always confusion about "net" profit. As most people understand it, this is profit after expenses and tax, but have you used the UKBA definition of profit before expenses only?

[katwmn6]

KayNa I would wait for a guru to reply to your post before making any decisions.

[Janaan]

KayNa

"Invoice explanations or payment summaries from the applicant’s accountant. These are summaries or explanations created by an applicant’s accountant. These explanations should include a breakdown of the gross salary, tax deductions and dividend payments
made to the applicant. The total gross salary and dividend payments should be the same as the applicant’s earnings. The payment summary should enable us to check that these correspond with the net payments into the applicant’s personal bank account" If you are taking this letter from your accountant that means he is attesting your invoice as genuine, he will obviously sign and stamp the letter. Also read the following para from 6A carefully while preparing the papers
"Where an applicant is submitting a combination of bank statements and a
letter/invoice summary from their accountant, they must also provide any invoices generated during the period for which earnings are being claimed". However please bare in mind that as per the rules in 6A you only have to provide the combination of your personal bank statements plus an accountant letter with an explanation of your income. Invoices, and a letter explaining your invoices should be kept in your back up file so if the case worker asks for it, you will have them ready to hand over. If you have any initial correspondence/contracts with your clients, please keep it in your back up file also. As I said, preciseness is the key, prepare your documents as per the guidelines and rules in 6A.

You can simply ring HMRC and request the letter which they normally provide you on a official paper and that is what you will require.

Take a chill:)

[KayNa]

I was fairly relaxed about all this until I met with an immigration lawyer who kept telling me my case is very unusual and to be prepared to be retained.

They just sent me another email tonight saying I've got all the evidence I can possibly gather but that given my circumstances it's likely I'll get retained...

Doubt the HMRC letter would get to me on time, appointment is this Tuesday morning (I assume you're referring to a letter outlining my self assessment?).

[Janaan]

Yes I was referring to your self assessment. Yes you probably wont receive it till Tuesday. If you submitted your returns online just print the copies for your back up file which if asked by the case worker, can always be confirmed and double checked with HMRC.

Although it depends on your case worker but also on how you come across in answering the raised questions. Remember you are the only person who will know your documents and case inside out and only you will have the opportunity to satisfy your case worker. And as you have outlined the docs that you have produced, I would feel confident and stay positive. Just print the 6A appendix A for the day and highlight the contractor part which clearly says what documents you need to produce, anything else that you consider mandatory-relevant, keep it in your backup file. If you bombard the case worker (and if he/she is junior) with loads of documents, they will get confused and retain your case to be forwarded to the senior case worker.

All the best for Tuesday

[katwmn6]

Best of luck next week, KayNa. Please let us know how it goes.

[KayNa]

Got my ILR today

It was very time consuming and quite mentally draining gathering all the paperwork (around 300 invoices) and making sure it could be verified against bank statements and business accounts etc. but worth it in the end.

I'll write a more in depth account and post in the main ILR section.

[katwmn6]

Congratulations KayNa! Thanks for letting us know.

I look forward to reading your more detailed account - if you could kindly post detailed information about the evidence you provided for your SE earnings it would be greatly appreciated.

[Janaan]

Congrats KayNa please check DM

[KayNa]

DM?

I haven't received any private messages, if that's what you meant.

[fomsand1]

Hi KayNa,

Congratulations. I got mine too on Monday. have you received your BRP yet? Just been told by DX that mine is on the way

[KayNa]

Haven't received it yet.
What's DX?

I asked them if ILR means I can work in the EU and they said yes... is that right?